A ceramic facet permits covering the labial surface of a tooth that is stained, discolored, deformed or slightly deteriorated by use. Facets are mostly placed on central incisors up to the first premolars. To prepare a tooth for placing a facet, the dentist must remove a fine layer of enamel on the labial surface of the tooth. A print of the tooth thus prepared is thus made, then transmitted to a laboratory to make the facets.
The inventor has developed a technique that permits minimizing the removed enamel layer (“GUREL G. Predictable, precise and repeatable tooth preparation for porcelain laminate veneers. Pract Proced Aesthet Dent. 2003; 15(1): 17-24”. “GUREL G. Ceramic facets: from theory to practice. Quitessence Publishing 2006”.) In the first place, the practitioner prepared an esthetic design that corresponds to the final shape of the tooth and its arrangement on the arch. The esthetic design is produced from a wax-up. It permits its validation by the practitioner and the patient, from the esthetic and functional plan before it is performed. It will also be used as a guide during preparation. The practitioner must then prepare the tooth while preserving a maximum of enamel (in other words, by avoiding unnecessary removal of tissue) and by providing the dental technician with a constant thickness to build the ceramic facet. In practice, the thickness of the ceramic facet must be at least 0.5 mm on the labial surface and at least 1.5 mm on the incisal edge. The difficulty consists of prepare the tooth as a minimum to obtain these thicknesses. To do so, a replica of the esthetic project is applied in the mouth. The practitioner mills roots of about 0.5 mm deep throughout the esthetic design on the surface of the teeth. After having removed the esthetic design, it suffices then to smoothen the dental surface to be prepared without removing more dental tissue than what is necessary. An imprint is made again by using the silicone key which initially was used to produce the esthetic design. It is from this new imprint that the dental technician prepares the ceramic fact on measure. To obtain an optimal result, this technique, namely removal of the dental tissue and of making the imprint that follows, can only take place by experienced practitioners.